THE Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is providing Jamaica with a technical assistance grant to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Finance.

The CDB said the funding will help to support Jamaica in the ongoing implementation of the country’s economic reform programme, under which critical macroeconomic and structural reforms being undertaken with the objective of stabilising the economy and setting the stage for economic growth.

The Government of Jamaica had identified a need to bolster the Ministry of Finance’s technical expertise in fiscal and macroeconomic policy that supports the country’s reforms under its home-grown structural adjustment programme. The programme is aided and assisted by the IMF and other development partners including CDB, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the European Union.

The technical assistance grant of US$400,000, approved by CDB’s Board of Directors last week, will help to:

• strengthen the ministry’s management team’s capabilities to guide the implementation of critical reforms to support the achievement of key medium-term macroeconomic results;

• provide technical advice to the minister of finance and, by extension, the Cabinet on macroeconomic policy issues in general and, specifically, on how best to achieve the goals and objectives of GOJ’s reform programme; and

• enhance relevant skills of technical staff within the ministry through training and transfer of expertise and knowledge.